Dynamically possible pattern speeds of double bars

Abstract

The method to study oscillating potentials of double bars, based on invariant loops, is introduced here in a new way, intended to be more intelligible. Using this method, I show how the orbital structure of a double-barred galaxy (nested bars) changes with the variation of nuclear bar's pattern speed. Not all pattern speeds are allowed when the inner bar rotates in the same direction as the outer bar. Below certain minimum pattern speed orbital support for the inner bar abruptly disappears, while high values of this speed lead to loops that are increasingly round. For values between these two extremes, loops supporting the inner bar extend further out as its pattern speed decreases, and they become more eccentric and pulsate more. These findings do not apply to counter-rotating inner bars.